


Hiraeth

by Imaginekta



Category: Original Work
Genre: Copyright 2015, Gen, my own work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 07:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4338809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imaginekta/pseuds/Imaginekta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of a girl who falls into the fantasy that has been twisted and turned by the whispers of our world.<br/>NOTE: This story is regularly updated and mainly on FictionPress. You can find it here:<br/>https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3258366/1/Hiraeth</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hiraeth

The light from my room was everlastingly fading away as the sun's gleam dissolved into the cool blue of the evening, not quite sure if it wanted to savor the welcome of the darkness and all of its secrets, or let it rampage out in all of its fierce vigor. I sat on my chair beside the open window, leaning my head on the sill as the air chilled my face and ruffled my hair. I am like this often; my aunt used to tell me that my daydreams would eventually chase out reality and nothing would be left.

_ Don't think about her. _

As my eyes wandered around the outside and all of its normality, I smiled. It was lovely. In my neighbors' front yard, two little kids and a toddler were racing each other with water guns in their hands, spraying each other to the maximum and laughing. Each kid's hair was dripping water, and their clothes were soaking wet. Even as the cold wind of the evening whisked through the world, they didn't seem to mind. They were captured in the fun.

To the left of both of the buildings lay a creek. As I focused my attention to the stream of water, I noticed two ducks chasing each other around a rock. One seemed almost belligerently benign. The other was clutching an object in its webbed claws; I squinted as I tried to make out what it was, but the distance was too far. The first duck seemed to want the other duck's attention, probably because it wanted the object. I laughed at the thought.

The door to my bedroom flew open, and my aunt stormed in. Surprised by the sudden noise, my head whipped around.

"Aurora Rose Clarke, _what_ have you been doing? I  _told_  you to clean the entire house and do the laundry before I got back! And what do I see? Your unfortunate face looking outside the window, with the house as dirty as I left it!"

_ Shoot _ . I bit my lip, grimacing. My eyes fell to my aunt's hand and I saw that she was clutching a bottle. _A beer bottle_ , I reminded myself. Trying to look innocent, I forced my facial expression into one of apology. But inside, I was sinking like a boat in the ocean that is surrendering to the storm. _She did it again. She's drunk._ And this time I knew that my innocuous face wouldn't fool her.

"So? What do you have to say for yourself, you useless niece of mine! Get up, _get up_ , and do the work like I asked you to!"

"I'm sorry, Aunt Holly. It won't happen again, I promise!"

She continued to berate me as I scrambled out of my position on the other side of the room and made my way to the door.

I stumbled, and she pushed me out so forcefully that by the time I regained my balance, she had closed the door behind me. My heart beating, I tried to calm myself, but failed miserably.  _She locked herself into my room. What do I do, what is she going to do, what is going to happen? Is she going to be mad when she comes out, if she comes out at all?_

I began to panic, and I made some sort of noise between a screech and a sob. I bolted towards the bathroom, and, letting myself in, closed the door behind me. I leaned against the wall, shaking.

It was then, only then, that I allowed myself to cry.

\---

When I was eight, both of my parents left. It was a day of rain and the kind of messy mud puddles that only an eight year old would enjoy.

I remember my mother leaning down so she could see me eye to eye, and cupping my face in her hands, she said, "My dearest, I am so,  _so,_ sorry. You are still a little girl, but you're safe. And that is what matters the most. You are so very special, always remember that." she let go of my face and brushed my light brown hair behind my ear. "I named you Aurora. The dawn. And that is what I hope you will become; the dawn of the world, a new beginning. Make me proud." 

Wordlessly, she took a hairpin, studded with intricate gold flowers, out of her hair and into mine. Then she stood up, turned around, and left. My father never even said goodbye. After that, my aunt took care of me as her own. The first week, I thought that my parents would come back. But they didn't, and as time twisted, I gave up.

That was seven years ago. I'm seventeen now. I lost the hairpin ages ago, but I never forgot the words that my mother left with me. Which now brings me back to when I was crying against the wall of the bathroom because everything came crashing down at once.

About two months ago, my aunt started acting differently. She became quirky, snappish, and judgmental, leaving the house for hours at a time. I took it in stride, telling myself that it'd get better and that this was just temporary. One day, I went into her room to give her the mail that had been collecting in the mailbox for a week. That was when I noticed the pile of beer bottles, some broken, in the corner of the bedroom. I was confused. I didn't understand why she had started to drink, but, once again, I consoled myself by thinking that it was just a passing phase. After all, everyone fights their own demons, don't they?

_ Quit it, Aurora, you're at it again!  _ Snapping out of my thoughts but still sniffling, I washed my face in the sink and dried it with a towel. I walked into the hallway and grabbed a book from one of the shelves embedded into the walls. Taking a scarf from the coat rack on my way out, I wrapped it around my neck and unlocked the door to the outside of my house. It was still crisp evening, and I took a breath of fresh air. Maybe everything wasn't okay, but I was already feeling better. That had to count for something, didn't it? Stepping out of the house and shoving the door shut, I began to jog down through the grass and towards the river. I smiled.


End file.
